30 in 30: Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers’ rise to prominence is a little behind schedule, after picking first overall for three consecutive years challenging for a playoff spot was still too much to ask.
A bright start to the shortened season soon evaporated and a run of three wins from thirteen to close out meant they landed a disappointing 12th in the Western Conference. It would seem inevitable that the Oilers will eventually become a force, their offence is loaded with a scary amount of talent and it’s time for that to pay dividends.
Notable Ins: Andrew Ference, David Perron, Jason LaBarbera
Notable Outs: Ryan Whitney, Shawn Horcoff, Nikolai Khabibulin, Magnus Paajarvi
Andrew Ference was the pick of the defensive free agents and GM Craig MacTavish managed to lock him up. The 34 year old brings serious experience, knows what it takes to win the Stanley Cup and will happily play a shut down game whilst his fellow blueliners have more freedom. Chief benefactor of that could be Justin Schultz as he enters his sophomore year, 27 points in 48 games was an excellent start to his NHL career considering the expectation that surrounded him coming out of college hockey. Elsewhere on defence Ladislav Smid and Jeff Petry are still improving, I think they are strong enough on the back end for it not to be a gamebreaker for their aspirations.
Taylor Hall began the run of top selections and hit his stride ending up ninth in the league for points, the decision to take him over Tyler Seguin now looks a no brainer and he could go bigger again as the star man of this offence. Nail Yakupov displayed his eye for the snipe (and knee slide celebrations) only inconsistently as you’d expect, he’s still on track for superstar status. The final member of their No. 1 trio Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will miss the start of the season because of surgery over the summer. He was recently handed a big seven year deal despite not building on a bright effort as a rookie in his second season and both have been injury affected, there’s no issues with his talent although his durability made many question the wisdom of that contract. Throw in Jordan Eberle to the mix of potential point per game players too, goal scoring is unlikely to be an issue.
Sam Gagner was put out indefinitely this week by a broken jaw, Zack Kassian is set to be banned for introducing his stick to Gagner’s chin. That’s extremely unfortunate after finally starting to realise his talent and breaking out last year, whoever comes back first of him or RNH will need to hit the ground running. On the plus side getting David Perron in from St Louis for Magnus Paajarvi plus a second rounder is a win if he can stay healthy and shrug off the dwindling effects of a serious concussion.
Behind the bench one season was enough for them to decide Ralph Krueger wasn’t the Head Coach to take this young group forward, Dallas Eakins brings a more enthusiastic, hands-on approach to the role. Eakins has paid his dues as an assistant in Toronto and in the chief job with their AHL affiliates the Marlies, he interviewed for a couple of the other available over the summer but the Oilers would seem the best fit.
Injuries already look like they may have a damaging effect on the Oilers campaign, but in a ideal scenario for them I predict a long awaited playoff appearance through the wildcard spots.
Prediction: Fifth in Pacific Division